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Blessed Alfredo Ildefonso Cardinal Schuster

Grand Officer. Archbishop of Milan feast day 30 August. Born in Rome of Bavarian parents on 18 January 1880 and was baptized Alfredo Ludovico Luigi. , he entered the Benedictine monastery of St Paul-Outside-the-Walls when he was 11, taking the name of Ildefonso, and was ordained a priest in 1904. He served his own community in various offices until he was elected abbot in 1918. He taught at several pontifical institutes, served as consultor to the Sacred Congregation of Rites, and held other high offices. Pope Pius XI appointed him Archbishop of Milan in 1929, consecrated him and created him a Cardinal.

Bl. Afredo gave priority to catechesis and promoted the role of the laity in the parish and in Catholic Action. He denounced Fascism and its racist ideology. He championed the cause of the poor during World War II, founded the Institute of Ambrosian Chant and Sacred Music and the Ambrosianeum and Didascaleion cultural centres. Above all, he proposed holiness as a goal for all, and the only means to human A few days before he died, he withdrew to Venegono Seminary. His last, moving words were to the seminarians:

“You want something to remember me by. All I can leave you is an invitation to holiness...”. He was beatified on 12 May 1996.

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